Itanagar, Dec. 11 : Strongly objecting to Arunachal Pradesh Governor J.P. Rajkhowa’s move to pre-pone the sitting of the state assembly a month earlier than scheduled, the Nyishi Elite Society (NES), which is the majority community in the state, and headquartered in Nyirubjolli, described the decision as unconstitutional act.
Bengia Tolum, President of the NES, said that the NES executive committee and all of its members would undertake a protest march on December 14 from the capital complex to the Indira Gandhi Park in Itanagar to expose what they called the governor’s malafide wrong doings.
In a statement issued to the media after its executive meeting in Naharlagun on Wednesday, the NES said the governor’s decision to summon the sixth sitting of the sixth State Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh from December 16 to 18, 2015, instead of holding it between January 14 and 18, 2016, was a move that was “hot and hasty”.
The NES said the governor’s motive appeared to be two-pronged, the first being wholly anti-Nyishi, as reflected in asking the Deputy Speaker (a non-Nyishi) to preside over the impeachment motion against the Speaker (a Nyishi), when he himself was facing a similar impeachment motion.
This pick and choose principle with regard to impeachment, they warned would set an unhealthy precedent for the future.
Secondly, they said that the governor is guilty of pursuing a pro-Assam attitude as reflected when he sought to remove the immunity status enjoyed by Speaker Nabam Rebia, so that he could be taken in for custodial interrogation on a falsely implicated case related to the Assam-Arunachal boundary dispute.
The NES executive committee also maintained that the governor writing to the Prime Minister’s Office in September on the issue of the Lilabari-Holongi Airports issue must be seen as a continuation of his anti-Nyishi stance.
They said that there are established rules and procedures that guide the functioning of the Arunachal Pradesh State Assembly and the governor’s actions clearly suggest that Speaker Rebia is being communally targeted for being a Nyishi.
They said that the governor is the titular head of the state, and must act on the advice of the council of ministers headed by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, and sign all documents prepared and forwarded to him by the State Assembly secretariat.
They said that he had no authority to prepare the agenda of the business of the house which is the domain of the Business Advisory Committee of the State Assembly.
They said that he has violated his constitutionally prescribed role in five instances, namely (1) Moving a motion of impeachment against the Speaker (2) Authorizing the Deputy Speaker to preside over the sitting who is facing impeachment motion higher in numbers earlier than the Speaker (3) directing the presiding officer not to alter the party composition of the house (4) Ordering the videography of the proceedings and (5) declaring submission of the proceedings as confidential.
They reminded the governor that under Article 181, when there is pending impeachment motion against the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, both of them cannot preside over the sitting of the State Assembly.
The appointment of the Deputy Speaker to preside over the impeachment motion against the Speaker was also nothing but an act of political vendetta and a communal tirade against the Nyishi community. (ANI)